


Pickup Truck

by memorizingthedigitsofpi



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Banter, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, These adorable dorks, quakerider, rated T for a couple of swear words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 00:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11909187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorizingthedigitsofpi/pseuds/memorizingthedigitsofpi
Summary: Bad news? Daisy's truck broke down. Good news? The mechanic is a hottie. Too bad he'll flirt with her but not ask her out. She'll just have to give him a second chance. And a third.





	1. Chapter 1

"Son of a bitch!" Daisy swore, slapping her steering wheel. She glared at the steam pouring out from under the hood of her truck and wished that punching three tons of metal would hurt _it_ instead of her.

Grumbling, she got out her phone and called the tow service she'd used so many times they sent her coupons in the mail.

"Hey Mike," she said, giving the driver of the tow truck a hug when he showed up. "How's Ace?"

Mike grinned and shook his head. "Wondering when you're going to get yourself a better truck."

"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that's _totally_ what a third grader thinks about."

Mike laughed as he started to hook her truck up to the lift. "Alright, alright. He's obsessed with Sam Wilson. Says _he_ wants to be Captain America when _he_ grows up."

They chatted and caught up as he drove her practically across town. Apparently he'd met this genius mechanic on a recent job who did beautiful work and charged a fraction of the price. Dude had some sort of economic theory that doing more work for less money was better than doing less work for more money when it came to his bottom line.

Whatever. If it meant that Daisy could have a working truck and not have to eat ramen for the next month and a half, she was all in.

She stayed in the cab of the tow truck while Mike went into the shop to talk to the mechanic. Looking around, it didn't look like anything special but it wasn't a total dive either. She wouldn't be worried to hang out here alone or anything, not that Mike would leave her someplace unsafe, anyway.

Maybe five minutes later, Mike reappeared. He was followed by a guy about her age wearing jeans and a greasy grey tanktop. He was also wearing a top notch brooding expression. Seriously cultivated. There was no way that was naturally occurring.

Daisy jumped out of the tow truck and held out her hand. "Daisy Johnson," she said, waiting while he decided whether or not to shake it. "I hear you're gonna fix my truck and leave me with enough of my money to pay my rent."

He smirked and Daisy smirked back in victory. She liked a good brood as much as the next woman, but she didn't want some dude who was all brood all the time.

"Depends," he said, wiping his hand on a rag and then shaking hers briefly. He moved back to where Mike was lowering her pickup down and looked at the undercarriage before the wheels hit the ground. He kept up his silent inspection while Daisy paid Mike and gave him a chocolate bar for Ace.

"Strong silent type, huh?" she asked, looking back at the mechanic with one raised eyebrow.

"Hey, you want good, cheap work or you want a date?" Mike ask with a grin.

"It's 2017," Daisy grinned back. "Can't I want both?"

* * *

An hour later, Daisy had managed to get a couple more half-smiles out of the guy and had even wheedled out a name. 

"Robbie."

"What? No last name? Like Cher or Madonna?"

"Sure, we'll go with that."

He was so frustrating. But in, like, a good way?

Daisy watched him work for a while before her eyes started wandering around his shop. It didn't have the pinup calendars or beer posters that a lot of the places did, which was nice. But it was still pretty run down. She wondered if his economic policy was actually working at all, but that wasn't the sort of question that a customer could have with a business proprietor. Besides, she was just thinking about it because she was so massively bored.

"You have any magazines in here?" she finally asked. She was tired of the games she had on her phone and besides, her battery was at like 12%.

"On the table."

She shuffled through them, kind of surprised by the assortment. There was the usual Auto Trader and Car Magazine and stuff, but there was also Popular Mechanics and and a couple of tech magazines. She picked up a copy of Wired and held it up.

"You get a lot of Silicon Valley types up in here?" she asked skeptically.

"Sure, we'll go with that."

She looked at him flatly and he looked back innocently. Well, it was _meant_ to look innocent, but clearly he was messing with her. She found herself trying not to laugh as she sat back down and opened to an article on phishing.

He didn't talk much, which was pretty much the opposite of her, but he didn't seem to mind listening while she read the magazine and commented on each article. Judging by the way he kept clenching his jaw when she made wisecracks, he had a sense of humour that he was trying to keep hidden.

She liked it when guys thought she was funny. It gave her a backup for the days when she wasn't looking so hot.

He also clearly knew a _lot_ about cars. Like _a lot_ , a lot. He fixed her rad for her in twenty minutes and then checked her tire pressure and changed her oil, too.

"Are you trying to gouge more money out of me?" she joked. "Or do you just like my company that much?"

"Sure," he shrugged.

"We'll go with that," Daisy said at the same time he did. She rolled her eyes and flopped backwards on the old sofa she was sitting on in his office.

"You don't talk much, do you?" she observed dryly. He was bending over again, this time to polish her headlights, and she gave his ass an appreciative look.

"Don't have to."

"Cuz I talk enough for the both of us?"

He turned to look back at her and his grin said what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

"If you say 'Sure, we'll go with that,' then I'm calling Mike and telling him not to bring anyone else here because you're some kind of sociopath."

That one actually earned her a laugh as Robbie raised his hands in surrender.

"Your truck's good as new," he said instead, wiping his hands on his rag again. He walked over to the old cash register and Daisy bounced up off the couch to meet him there.

"I don't suppose I could flutter my eyelashes and get a nice discount, huh?" she asked, watching to see if he was going to show any interest at all.

"You're already getting a nice discount," Robbie said, writing out an invoice. "No eyelashes in the world nice enough to get the job cheaper than this."

Daisy took a look at the total and whistled. He wasn't wrong. It was the cheapest repair bill she'd ever had for the hunk of junk she drove around in daily.

As she paid her bill, she waited for him to ask her out but he never did.

Oh well. His loss. If he wasn't interested enough to suggest beer and pizza, she wasn't going to put herself out there any more than she already had.


	2. Chapter 2

Gabe looked over his shoulder as Robbie came in, ten minutes late for dinner.

"Back again, huh?" he said as he grabbed the paper towels off the counter and put them in his lap. He wheeled over to the table and put them in the centre. "What is that? The fourth time this month?"

Robbie washed his hands in the sink, head down and shoulders hunched. "Third," he said briefly. When he went to grab a seat, he was brought up short by Gabe's look for a second before brushing it off and sitting down. "What? She drives a piece of shit."

Gabe served himself and the passed the dish over to his brother. "You're really telling me you don't fix that thing up before you send her off again?"

Robbie focused on serving himself dinner and decided he didn't really need to answer the question. He never let anyone drive off if there were still repairs left to do.

They ate in silence for a while before Gabe spoke up again.

"It's not like you've got hot girls throwing themselves at you all the time, you know," he pointed out sagely.

"How do _you_ know?"

"Because I know you. There's no way."

Robbie gave Gabe a flat look and took a long sip of beer.

There was more silence, punctuated by occasional clinking noises of cutlery on plates.

"She's not throwing herself at me," Robbie finally said, grudgingly.

Gabe put his utensils down and wiped his mouth. Then he looked at his big brother with so much disdain it almost manifested itself into a physical being.

"She's been here three times in four weeks," Gabe pointed out. "And every time she comes in, she looks hotter. She was wearing a miniskirt today!"

Robbie scoffed, but Gabe just kept going.

"You know _why_ she wore it? Because she bribed me to tell her which you'd like more: legs or cleavage." He let out a soft chuckle. "She was all worried after she said it, too. Like I'd be offended by her talking about legs or something." He shook his head, still laughing.

"What'd she bribe you with?" Robbie asked, curious despite himself.

"Ask her out, and maybe I'll tell you."

Robbie glared but Gabe just crossed his arms and waited.

"Why do you want this so much, anyway?" Robbie asked, pushing away from the table and standing up. "Who cares if I ask some random chick out?"

" _I_ care," Gabe said seriously. He backed up from the table and wheeled over to where Robbie was standing with his back to him.

"I know you're worried about me, Robbie, but I'm _fine_. I can take care of myself."

Robbie clenched his teeth but didn't turn around. His hands were on his hips and his head was bowed as he remembered how his brother got hurt in the first place.

"I'm not leaving you," he said firmly.

"I'm not asking you to _leave_. I'm telling you to get laid."

Robbie did turn around a that one. "You're what?"

"She's hot. She's funny. She made us a website that'll get the garage off the ground-"

"She _what_?"

"And you need to get your head out of your ass and just ask her out already. Or at least say yes to one of her massive hints."

"But-"

"I made dinner so you do the dishes," Gabe said as he spun his chair around. He'd made his point. It was up to Robbie to do something about it.


	3. Chapter 3

Despite herself, Daisy was still thinking about Robbie. Him and his cool hair and his cool car. Him and his brooding expression and his dimples when he cracked a smile.

She was annoyed with him for not asking her out and annoyed at herself for still chasing after him. It wasn't like she couldn't find another guy in five minutes. This was LA for crying out loud. She could find half a dozen guys just by saying the word "screenplay" on any random street corner.

There was just something about Robbie, though. Maybe it was the way he couldn't not break a bit when she made a joke. Maybe it was how much he cared for his little brother. Maybe it was the way he fit into his jeans and how strong his hands were underneath all of that grease.

Maybe she'd had too long of a dryspell, eesh.

If she was honest, part of his appeal was probably the way he was both flirty and standoffish. Like, he was _clearly_ interested. She'd been around long enough to know when a guy was checking her out. But at the same time, he wasn't doing anything about it? That was the part that just drove her nuts. If he was just shy, she could have done the asking and they'd be hooking up by now. That wasn't it, though, and she couldn't figure out what it _was_.

Until she did, she'd just have to keep making it super obvious that she was into him and wait for him to make a move.

"I thought you were trying to be _subtle_ ," Mike laughed, shaking his head as he took out her perfectly good spark plug and replaced it with a dud.

Daisy looked down at her sundress. It was strappy and flowy and showed more tit than she usually displayed. It also stopped at mid-thigh and just _happened_ to make her ass look fantastic.

"The heels too much?" she asked, looking back up again. They were strappy, too, and her toes were painted a deep red to match her lipstick. She'd curled her hair and put on fake lashes. The whole bit. She wasn't pulling any punches this time.

Mike shook his head and helped her into the cab of his truck. "Has anyone ever pointed out that you're stubborn as a mule?" he asked mildly as he started to drive them to Robbie's shop.

"All of the nuns, every guy I've ever dated, two bosses, and my adopted dad," she listed off. Then she grinned, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason at all."

* * *

"Robbie's interviewing guys between jobs," Gabe said excitedly. "There's that much work. He can't do it all on his own anymore."

"That's great," Daisy smiled. She looked over at where Robbie was digging around under her hood and sighed. Crossing her arms under her chest, she turned back to Gabe. "You're _sure_ your brother's into chicks?" she asked a bit sourly. "Cuz I'm not trying to brag here or anything, but I'm _hot_ , and he's is _not_ picking up what I'm putting down here."

Gabe snorted and jerked his head over at his brother. "Oh, he's picking it up alright," he said. "He's just stubborn is all."

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Great. Two of us like that. At this rate, I'm going to be coming to this shop til I'm 90, and he's going to ignore me even if I show up bare ass naked."

Gabe put on an intentionally blank face. "I mean, if you think that might help..." He laughed when Daisy smacked his arm. "Kidding! Kidding!"

"I thought you were going to talk to him?" Daisy said, glaring at Robbie again. "You were subtle right?" she asked, turning back to Gabe. "Hypotheticals and stuff?"

"Mmhmm," Gabe nodded. "Totally subtle. Maybe _too_ subtle? I was pretty low key about it."

Daisy narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to interrogate him further when Robbie came over.

"What's the damage?" she asked, looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"Busted spark plug," Robbie said, holding up the culprit.

"Darned spark plugs."

"Yeah. Crazy how that happens."

"Totally."

"Especially since I replaced them all last time you were in."

"You, uh. Huh." Daisy smiled awkwardly. "How about that? What are the odds?"

Robbie looked from Daisy to his little brother. He jerked his chin towards the house and Gabe took the hint, winking at Daisy before he wheeled himself away.

Stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets, Robbie squinted off into the distance and bounced on his toes for a second.

"I can't help noticing that you have a lot of problems with your truck," he said indirectly.

"Mmhmm," Daisy nodded. If he was finally ready to do this, she wasn't going to say something that might stop him.

"I mean, you're in here a lot with it and all."

"Yup. Sure am."

"And you always look really nice. Like your truck breaks down when you're on your way someplace."

"What? This old thing?"

Robbie cracked a small smile and finally looked at her. "I just can't help thinking that it'd be way cheaper if you just asked me out to dinner instead."

Daisy tried not to smile, she really did, but it as a losing battle. "Oh yeah? What makes you think I want to do that?" she asked, standing up.

Robbie watched her stand, his eyes roving from her dark red toes all the way up to her softly curled hair. "Because no one looks this good to get their car fixed," he said, taking a step closer and holding up the spark plug again. He held her eyes as he tossed it aside, getting it in the garbage can without even looking.

"Nice shot." Daisy moved forward again. "What makes you think I don't always look this hot?"

"Oh, you _definitely_ always look this hot. You just don't always do the hair and makeup and shoes and stuff."

Daisy grinned for real. "You think I'm hot," she said in a singsong, moving forward and poking one finger at his stomach. He ducked out of the way, but she got another smile out of him. A bigger one. Both dimples came out, and it legit made her stomach flop over.

"So?" he asked. " _You_ think _I'm_ hot."

"You're not lying."

"So you _do_ wanna go for dinner?"

"I was just waiting for you to ask me." Daisy said with a shrug and a triumphant smile. "Go wash your hands. That grease is going to stain my dress."

" _Me_ ask?" Robbie asked.

"Uh huh."

"But _you_ -"

Daisy raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. She did it strategically. Robbie fell right into the trap. And her cleavage.

"... You okay with burgers?" he asked, dragging his eyes back up to her face.


End file.
